Album Review: The Wedding Present – Valentina
Formed in 1985 The Wedding Present were darlings of the C86 era and had their jangly pop guitars and angsty lyrics lauded by such influential DJs as John Peel and Steve Lamacq. Over the past 27 years the Wedding Present line-up may have changed a few times and as he’s grown up David Gedge’s songs of teenage angst have been replaced by bitter sweet songs about love and relationships. For ‘Valentina’, the band’s ninth studio album, the usual themes of love, lust, jealousy and revenge are still intact but Gedge has enlisted the help of band member Graeme Ramsay on all but one of the songs, suggesting that maybe his lyrical well is starting to run dry. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with Valentina’, far from it. Musically it’s a lot rockier and stronger than 2008’s El Ray and lyrically, well it’s business as usual; ‘I hope you find what you’re looking for/do you even know what that is anymore’ spits Gedge on ‘You Jane’. Meanwhile on ‘Deer Caught In the Headlights’, one of my favourite tracks from the album, the lyrics are deliberately as awkward as the way he sings them as he tries to woo a girl clearly beyond his reach. It’s this kind of honesty, in both the songs and the performance, and the influence of the band’s changing line-up (The Girl From The DDR features bass player Pepe Le Moko singing in German), that continually draws me to the Wedding Present and keeps them interesting, when really their sell by date should be long overdue. 7/10
Mark Cousens
Out now on Scopitones
